An Essex County man was sentenced today to 80 months in prison for three felony charges in connection with his possession of firearms and ammunition on three different days in April and May of 2019, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced.
According to federal officials, Samaad Kelly, 33, previously pleaded guilty to an information charging him with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm and one count of being a felon in possession of ammunition.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:
On April 24, 2019, officers from the Essex County Sheriff’s Office received information that Kelly was driving in Newark in a silver BMW with a temporary registration and was in possession of a firearm.
The officers observed the BMW, which had a fictitious registration, and conducted a stop. Kelly, who was driving the BMW, could not provide the officers with any identification, registration, or proof of insurance.
After conducting a search of the BMW, the officers located a Taurus semi-automatic 9-millimeter handgun in the glove box. The officers arrested Kelly, and Kelly remained in custody until May 2, 2019, when he was released on bail.
On May 7, 2019, officers from the Newark Police Department responded to a report of gunshots near Astor Street in Newark. Upon their arrival, they found one 9 millimeter discharged shell casing and one 9 millimeter round of live ammunition.
The officers obtained video footage from surveillance cameras located nearby, which showed Kelly point and fire a black handgun in the direction of another individual.
On May 10, 2019, detectives from the Newark Police Department were patrolling a section of Newark in the vicinity of Astor and Brunswick streets. One of the detectives observed Kelly wearing a fanny pack that appeared to be heavily weighed down.
When the detectives approached Kelly, he fled on foot. While running away from the detectives, Kelly unclipped the fanny pack and attempted to throw it over a fence. As he was throwing the fanny pack, he slipped and fell to the ground.
The detectives apprehended Kelly, recovered the fanny pack, and found inside of it a Ruger 9 millimeter semi-automatic pistol, loaded with 10 rounds of ammunition. The detectives arrested Kelly.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Kelly to 3 years of supervised release.